Digital BW, The Print

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Cone" <piezobw@...>
To: <piezography3000@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 1:52 AM
Subject: [piezoBW] New Piezography Products


> Piezography News
>
>
> At PhotoPlus Expo on October 31, we are releasing all 4 PiezoTone hue gray
> sets and 2 new Piezography black ink positions. This will bring the total
of
> black inks to three. Additionally, ImagePrint by ColorByte Software will
be
> the first software product to support all of the Piezography inks. There
is
> support for the 1280/1290, 7000, 7500, 9000, 9500. Add'l printers are
> planned. Cone Editions Press, Ltd will be providing the profile support,
and
> it will be a daunting task considering how many papers are now on the
market
> and how many inks we have (4 PiezoTone hues x 3 blacks = 12)
>
> The PiezoTone hue gray sets are Warm Neutral, Selenium Tone, Cool Neutral,
> and Carbon Sepia. They comprise three gray dilutions available in 3 or 5
ink
> sets. They are compatible with each other and with any of the 3 blacks.
The
> PiezoTone gray sets are made from 100% pigments without the use of dye or
> metal complex. They are all carbon based with additional pigments added
for
> color. The Carbon Sepia is pure carbon without add'l pigments. If you
liked
> the warm faded look of the PiezographyBW inks (now Sundance Neutral Warm),
> you will like this ink very much as it has the warmth but without the
> density loss. Also the ink has been shaped to maintain the same
directional
> facets when dried down. There is nil metamerism and the ink can pick up
> subtle hue differences depending upon paper. Very platinum like. Cool
> Neutral is just off neutral to the cool side and does not have the blue
look
> of the other cool neutrals.
>
> The choice of blacks is going to expand to include inks which are suitable
> for all types of quad printing. We did not design the original black for
use
> other than PiezographyBW software. That software uses a very small amount
of
> black in in proportion to the darkest gray (cyan position). The original
> PIezoTone black has a very high Optical Density which was the highest
> available at the time of its release. When printed with PiezographyBW
> software it was not expected to produce any fade results which were
> unacceptable. That is, they were expected to be similar to other inks on
the
> market. However, although we have not seen any printed samples of rapid
> fading other than in pictures posted on the web, it is clear to us that it
> is very unwise to experiment with workflows that the user is uncertain
about
> how it prints the individual ink components.
>
> Reports were made earlier in which it was noted that the black faded when
> left on its own. We posted pictures which showed that the performance of
the
> inks were acceptable when used with Piezography. Paul Roark who has been
> doing enormous amounts of testing and which we are very thankful for has
> published data which shows that they are not acceptable when used on their
> own. Using them with workflows is somewhere in between depending upon the
> workflow apparently. Paul Roark found:
>
> PiezoTone Grays have a fading rate below 2% which is not discernable to
the
> human eye, and the similar ink positions of MIS-FS inks have a fade rate
of
> 18% and the MIS-FSN inks have a fade rate of 16.9% which are very
> discernible.
>
> His tests show that using the PIezoTone black position only results in a
11%
> fade rate and 5.8% and 3.5% respectively for the two MIS-Blacks.
>
> There wasn't any data published for the results of the black when used
with
> PiezographyBW other than comparative with MIS inks using photographs. The
> PiezoTones do not change hue except in the black position which warm fades
> while the similar ink FS completely fades warm.
>
> There are obviously different strengths when all the inks are compared,
and
> while none seem satisfactory on their own - combinations of products from
> the two companies are winning favor.
>
> We introduced PiezoTone black because we were under the impression that
the
> majority of our users wanted a black which approached silver print and
were
> willing to have fade to an acceptable carbon base black - rather than a
> black which did not fade at all but was less dark than current solutions.
>
> At the time it was not possible to produce from 100% pigment a black which
> was dark enough.
>
> When we analyzed MIS-FSN by thin layer chromaticity testing it revealed
10%
> AZO dyes and this would account for the 3.5 - 5.8% fades in Roark's tests.
>
> We gave our chemists the task of finding a way to make Carbon black denser
> in Optical Desnity. We wanted a black at least as black as the MIS-FSN and
> the old Piezo black - but we wanted it to have the performance of our
> PiezoTone grays. That meant no dye no metal. They were able to produce a
new
> carbon black formula with this property by carefully shaping the carbon
> particles. The result is a greater density and no need for dye or metal
> complex to achieve a black similar to MIS.
>
> By the way the ingredient we used in the original PiezoTone black is a
metal
> complex not usually found in inks. Its property is extremely black mass
> tone.
>
> Now that we have three blacks available I will detail their properties and
> their attraction to users, or what is their strong points in difference to
> each other which would make a user choose one over another.
>
> The original Black is for users who want a maximum black which nears
Silver
> Print OD. If used with PiezographyBW it will have fade characteristics
which
> are about congruent with our old black and other blacks on the market. It
> will fade to its carbon content as the metal complex stuff that makes it
so
> black eventually fades. Its initial OD may make it appear to fade worse
than
> other blacks. But the ending points are very similar when used correctly.
We
> believe that this ink gives the greatest combined longevity and dMAX
> currently available. But its selling point is that it is blacker than
> anything else on the market and it has good fading characteristics. Some
> users are experiencing problems with this ink of which the majority appear
> to be from using it with RGB workflows which print great amounts of black
in
> conjunction with the yellow ink position. PiezographyBW software prints
only
> small amounts of black and not in conjunction to yellow, rather over the
> dark position (cyan). Other users have commented to us in regards to
> PiezographyBW software but it is not congruent with what we have
> experienced. We do not think that this ink should be used with workflows
> unless the workflow does not print large amounts of black ink.
>
> Experiment with this ink responsibly. We are not in a position to advise
> which workflow is acceptable because we really do not support them. Before
> PiezographyBW we partitioned the inks in about the same way using a CMYK
> driver. Before that we created input/output tables for use with ConeTech
> QuadBlack inks for IRIS. Our input/output tables were published for IRIS
as
> far back as 1994. We only know one way to print quad inks, a short black
> over receding bell shaped curves in the cmy channels (if you can visualize
> that you should be able to understand the output table). Now go make some
> workflows which do it right....
>
>
> New carbon pigment made available to Piezography which is shaped
differently
> than previous carbon pigments will allow for greater density and hence
> greater optical density. We should have this pigment exclusive for a year
> (maybe a year and a half) and there is great optimism that we should be
able
> to further increase OD through continued shaping r&d. The two new black
inks
> based on this pigment follow:
>
> New Piezography MuseumBlack is pure carbon, no additional dyes or metal
> complex. It is designed to stay at the same Optical Density (how dark it
> is). In that regard it is like the PiezoTone Grays. The PiezoTone Grays
fade
> less than a couple %, which is not detectable to the human eye. So this
> would be a rock hard combination. But it is not very black. It will start
> out about as black for example as the MIS and Sundance Blacks. But the MIS
> and Sundance blacks fade because of their dye content.  MusuemBlack will
not
> fade to a discernible degree. So in the end MusuemBlack will appear to
have
> a much greater Optical Density than other black ink products. That will be
> its selling point. We can do it without dye or metal complex now. Great
> breakthrough. This ink is compatible therefore with any type of workflow
and
> should make a great black ink only black.
>
> New Piezography PortfolioBlack will end up at about the same OD as
> MuseumBlack or just  higher after its small amount of metal complex fades
> out, but it will start off with a much blacker OD. It is in between
> MuseumBlack needs and Original Black needs. It will perform better than
the
> original black but not be as black. Its final fade point is still being
> tested and it may end up to be an exciting ink. Lets wait for the data and
> compare then.
>
> If we extend this black even further with metal complex as we did with the
> original black, we may see OD readings in the 2.1 and higher range. This
may
> open up a whole new can of whoopie. We are already testing formulas like
> this with Xenon and in a few months may make some announcements which
would
> open up new opportunities in optical density but with fade. We are hoping
> the fade like original black will be to levels congruent with the
underlying
> carbon. In the case of this ink, the underlying carbon can now be made
> denser. So an improvement in the waiting. Maybe. We'll see whether
extending
> it is possible to make the OD worth the density loss. A version of this
> black might make for a startling exhibition black where dramatic effect
> unavailable in silver print is desired. The new carbon black is not as
brown
> as the blacks used in all the other inks on the market - so there may be
> great hopes that this product can have an interesting future. We'll keep
you
> updated.
>
>
> It will be interesting for us here to see how users react when presented
> with three black choices that allow them to choose between aesthetics and
> longevity. 72% of the users we polled answered they would rather have a
> black that approached silver print and had fade characteristics to our
older
> dMax then a black which would not fade but was not very black. We had only
> polled a small % of the user base and I think I will be surprised if the
> Museum Black becomes the most popular. I think it will be a toss up
between
> the other 2. Perhaps we can keep a running poll going here in the next few
> months as users try them all and decide... The running poll lets users go
in
> and change their mind as they begin to experiment.
>
> We will be supplying on or about PhotoPlus Expo complete Xenon data sets
for
> fading with all of our current and past ink products in comparison with
> competitive products for analysis.
>
> There really is a lot going on and no one in Topsham has a minute to
spare.
> I am going to have to go back to my schedule. But I will read this list
for
> the remainder of the week. I will be traveling Thursday but should be able
> to get on again in the evenings on Thur and Fri. So if there are questions
I
> will try and answer. I am sorry that neither myself or Bill has had time
for
> the lists. We are though answering e-mails sent to us directly. But this
> should get out to many of our users. A mailing is planned with all the
> printed ink samples and longevity testing data to our registered user
base.
>
>
>
> Jon Cone
>
>
>
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